Dismissal of lawsuit against author Neil Gaiman upheld, court says case should be heard in New Zealand

Scarlett Pavlovich filed lawsuits against Gaiman and his wife Amanda Palmer in the US states of Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York last year.

She accused Gaiman of multiple sexual assaults while she was working as the family's nanny in 2022.

The New York lawsuit was dropped last year, and the Wisconsin lawsuit was dismissed in October, with the judge saying Pavlovich needed to pursue the case in New Zealand.

The British author denied the claims, but argued that as the alleged abuses occurred in New Zealand - where Pavlovich was a citizen and Gaiman had permanent residency status - the US had no jurisdiction over the allegations.

In his motion to dismiss, Gaiman called the claims a "sham", saying while he and Pavlovich did engage in "sexual activity", they never had sexual intercourse and it was always consensual.

"None of Pavlovich's claims are true," Gaiman said.

Pavlovich appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals.

She told the court New Zealand "offered her no remedy at all", and alleged the only compensation she would be able to get in New Zealand was mental health treatment, which she was now ineligible for as she lived in Scotland.

On Monday, a decision from the US Court of Appeals said it had found no abuse of discretion in the district court's decision to dismiss the lawsuit and reaffirmed its judgement to dismiss the action.

"Everyone agrees New Zealand is available as a forum because Gaiman has consented to being sued there," it said.

What was alleged on Waiheke Island

A factual background as Pavlovich alleged, was provided in the court's decision and said in 2022 Gaiman and his wife, musician Amanda Palmer, were living on Waiheke Island.

Pavlovich became involved with the family in 2020 after meeting Palmer. At the time she was 22, struggling financially and at times had no where to live.

She ran occasional errands for Palmer for which she said she was sometimes paid.

In early 2022, Pavlovich said she was asked to babysit Palmer and Gaiman's child at his Waiheke Island house for a weekend. She said it was the first time she met him and the first time he allegedly sexually assaulted her. At the time he was 61 and she was 22.

Shortly after Pavlovich was hired by Palmer as a live-in nanny. She said she took the job as she was desperate for employment.

"For weeks she endured repeated, brutal assaults by Gaiman which ended after he left for Scotland three weeks later," it was alleged in the US decisions.

After the events, Pavlovich said she became suicidal and sought psychiatric care along with filing a criminal complaint against Gaiman in New Zealand, but alleged no action was taken.

Following publication of the allegations, Gaiman wrote that he had "never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever."